I only learned of the Doomer Boards Project series shortly before the release of DBP26: La Cité des Enfants Damnés, The City of Damned Children. DBP26 came out around this time last year, and already we’re on to DBP38. I can’t fathom how they do it, but the virtuosos over on the Doomer Boards crank out one of these things every month — honestly deflating my ego a fair bit over the release schedule of my own UnSeries. A megaWAD made in just a month? Cool, cool; now do twelve of those every year.
In any case, the Doomer Boards Project we’re here to talk about today is last month’s, DBP37: Auger;Zenith. If you enjoyed the subtle cyberpunk flavors of something like Mutiny, Auger;Zenith is an all-you-can-eat buffet.
The pervasive tech-noir atmosphere and neon-future visuals would honestly be enough to carry a WAD of this size alone. Open-air markets with blinding billboards covering every inch, slums heaped with trash and burnt-out cars, immaculate glass skyscrapers rising above it all into the starless sky. It’s a smorgasbord for a mapper to work with, and just as much of a feast for the player. But at first you might be like me: thinking that as great as all this sounds, you already know every item on the checklist of locations this adventure will take you to.
I guarantee you do not.
I was getting a slight feeling of sameyness in the first half-dozen levels, but the middle section of the mapset does an incredible job mixing things up with some extremely quirky and memorable outings. Less detailed definitely, but insanely fun to play. And by map12 the WAD is going places.
I can’t say for sure whether it’s the best map in the lineup, but by far the standout as a setpiece is map17, a network of alleys and storefronts and vents and all manner of seedy establishments the likes of which have never before been rendered in the Doom engine. Mindblowingly intricate but just as satisfying to play. SuperCupcakeTactics is without a doubt a mapper to keep an eye on.
Also, while it may not quite be the metric these mappers wanted to be measured by, it’s very important to note the sheer number of lovingly-crafted bathrooms in this WAD. I’m something of an aficionado of videogame bathrooms, and I dare you to find a WAD or game that beats Auger;Zenith in either quantity or quality.
For me, the project has one failing and one failing only. As with Mutiny before it, there’s a real missed opportunity for new guns and monsters to put a bow on the whole package. By default it’s the pistol alone that gets a new skin, though an “add-on” WAD included in the download makes a couple other teensy updates. The WAD is just begging for something more than a coat of paint, though; it really needed one or two brand new cyberpunk-themed weapons, and baddies to match. The stealth soldier from Ancient Aliens would have been a perfect addition, or Realm667’s Cybruiser or Terminator. Heck, just make my pistol more powerful so I have reason to actually use it and appreciate the awesome new look!
Ah well. Who am I to complain when the maps alone are some of the most spectacular laid out in years? Besides, I guess there’s always gameplay mods.
Auger;Zenith requires DOOM2.WAD and runs on limit-removing sourceports. If you’re not sure how to get it running, this may help. And for more awesome WADs, be sure to check these out!